As I shot arrow after arrow into the sky to escape the stupidly massive Dark-ice elemental I had summoned, I couldn't help but chuckle at myself.

That was no standard elemental, not at all. I had never seen one that massive.

Its body literally leaked frosty air, so cold to turn the very air into ice.

What freaky level was that thing?

 

Dark-ice Higher Elemental, Level 62 (721,896/6,200,000)

Integrity: 100%

Shade Capacity: 200%

 

Agility: 18

Constitution: 95

Strength: 65

Focus: 128

Perception: 25

Willpower: 30

 

Strengths: Constitution, Focus, Ice attack, Shade manipulation

Weaknesses: Agility

 

Abilities: Dark-ice Breath, Ice Breath, Dark-ice Spikes, Dark-ice Bolts, Ice Wave, Dark-ice Wave, Frost Terrain, Recovery, Shadow Shift

 

Dark-ice Higher Elementals evolve from Dark-ice Elementals that reach level fifty. They appear exclusively during Shade season and show themselves only in the deep of the night.

They can switch from using ice-based spells to use Dark-ice spells.

Dark-ice spells inflict a weakening debuff and slow the target much more quickly than regular Ice spells.

 

Stone weight: 0.500kg

 

Of course, a Higher Elemental.

I had never seen one in my whole life, and there it was... —Trying to hunt me down.

However, I had gotten high enough in the sky; it could not catch me up here. His bolts would deteriorate before they reached me.

I nocked a Shadow Crystal Blow Arrow.

Let's see how much damage it does.

I released and intently stared at my Tracing.

The arrow would certainly hit, but I needed to gauge how much damage I could inflict on it.

It was night. It would recuperate even his Shade Capacity in seconds if I allowed him to.

The double explosion hit the creature right on, dealing a decent amount of damage to it.

 

Dark-ice Higher Elemental, Level 62 (721,896/6,200,000)

Integrity: 73%

Shade Capacity: 200%

 

The problem was that it would convert its Shade Capacity back into integrity.

So, I could just not afford to relent.

I threw a regular arrow toward the ground as the staggered elemental raised its massive hand to shoot a huge ice spike in the night sky.

At the same time, I readied another of my Crystal Blow arrows, the only one I could use to fight this creature, and shot it.

By the time the regular arrow hit the ground, I silently transferred there.

I could witness the double explosion turning the creature into multiple pieces of ice.

 

Dark-ice Higher Elemental, Level 62 (721,896/6,200,000)

Integrity: 36%

Shade Capacity: 200%

 

And yet, it had still not relied on its Shade Capacity to fix itself.

I would have to utterly bombard it, I could freeze my fingers before that thing was finished, but I was starting to feel at ease even with such a massive Shade use. Maybe it was a Passive Perk manifesting itself.

As I readied another arrow, Loki distracted the creature that had yet to notice me.

My Netherlion appeared and disappeared as he ran in a half-moon pattern to taunt it.

I was free to devastate the creature with explosions.

I had to be fast though; it was dangerous to make all this noise in the night. I could call other creatures just as dangerous as this one. I had to hurry.

However, the elemental could not regenerate fast enough, and after four more arrows, the first layer of his Shade Capacity entirely shed, it remained with slightly less than half its Shade Capacity.

I had no idea why the whispers identified a higher than normal Health, Stamina, or Capacity by percentages, maybe because it was easier to interpret? I didn't know.

However, I knew what it meant. In this case, it told me that the creature in front of me could store twice the average amount of Shade that it normally would.

Maybe it was the benefit of evolving? And perhaps with a higher Trace level, I could interpret those percentages with proper numbers. But before thinking about that, I had to think about finding a way to get another Shade Star.

I had to hurry to advance my Classes to Ultimate.

 

It took exactly six more arrows to bring it down to less than ten percent Shade Capacity.

It wouldn't be able to regenerate his integrity entirely.

It looked nothing like an elemental in its current state. It was more like a half-melted down ice sphere. It might have probably been his core.

Since we were at that point, I tried my theory, and as Loki dealt with the remaining elemental core, I transferred myself in the distance.

When I heard the whispers, it was clear that it did not work.

While another thing was clear... that type of elemental gave us a lot of Soul fractions.

 

You've earned 26789 Icy-Imps' Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next TechnoHunter level: 236,954/370,000

 

You've earned 26789 Icy-Imps' Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next Red Tamer level: 25,351/340,000

 

Sub-Class Red Tamer has leveled up to 34.

Strength + 1.

 

Loki has earned 26789 Icy-Imps' Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next level: 148,342/270,000

 

It wasn't even remotely enough for both time and material consumption, but it was better than nothing.

However, the night was long. And there was a lot of experience I could get with my new abilities.

If I found another Imps horde, it would be amazing, although unlikely.

However, as I headed back to Loki, it was clear that the explosions had attracted something. A few more somethings than I could handle.

Quite a few Dark-Ice Elementals, Nightshades, which were literally walking shadows, very elusive and ethereal, were coming our way. But those did not worry me.

I could take care of the elementals; Loki could almost literally melt the Nightshades; however, something was moving under the sands.

And judging by the amount of sand being shifted, whatever was down there was likely a Sand-Wyrm.

It wasn't even remotely big enough to be compared to the Titan. Still, it was one of them.

I had to be swift and grab its attention.

I could fly, but although Loki could Phase away, he was bound to reappear sooner or later, and Sand-Wyrms were hard creatures to interpret.

As long as it was under the sand, I couldn't even correctly Trace it. Still, Sand-Wyrms were Flowborns; why was it active at this hour of the night?

I didn’t know, but I wouldn’t waste my time; I could Trace the Nightshades; it was better than doing nothing.

 

Nightshade, Level 41 (255,589/410,000)

Health: 100%

Shade Capacity: 100%

 

Agility: 43

Constitution: 7

Strength: 25

Focus: 56

Perception: 20

Willpower: 41

 

Strengths: Agility, Ethereal body, Focus

Weaknesses: Constitution

 

Abilities: Nightslash, Phantom chase, Phase

 

Nightshades are evolved forms of a Shadow. They rarely manifest themselves and are very hard to both see and notice.

Facing a Nightshade requires magic or access to Flow-weapons.

They are entirely immune to Shade-based attacks, although a sudden massive concentration of them can displace their bodies.

 

Stone weight: 0.337kg

 

I ordered Loki to ravage them. They could almost literally do nothing against him.

I started bombarding the elementals, each of them coming from another direction; as Loki took care of the Nightshades, I would leave destroying their cores to him; in the meanwhile, I would attract the Sand-Wyrm's attention. If I managed to kill that, we would undoubtedly get ourselves both a level.

 

The Dark-ice elementals were regular ones, each of them took roughly three arrows to end them, and by the time I was done with them, the first of them, Loki, had killed each of the ten or so Nightshades.

I focused on my whispers as I ran around to get the Sand-Wyrm's attention.

 

Loki has earned 56358 Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next level: 204.700/270.000

 

I hadn't received any experience, but that was normal; I hadn't contributed in the least.

Maybe, I should have just let him roam free and see how much he would level up in a week or so.

I was thinking about that and other things while the Sand-Wyrm finally manifested.

 

Undead Sand-Wyrm, Level 88 (5,689,556/8,000,000)

Durability: 79%

Health: 0%

Stamina: 0%

 

Agility: 42

Constitution: 115

Strength: 166

Focus: 45

Perception: 68

Willpower: 12

 

Strength: Acid, Constitution, Immortality, Strength, Size

Weakness: Flow

 

Abilities: Acid Spit, Fear, Fulminating Stare, Sand Dive, Taunt

 

An abomination risen by the plagued remains of a Sand-Wyrm. It is not clear what springs undead creatures to rise. Usually, curses given by sentients, especially by Mediums and thus, empowered by Skills, can carry a lot of weight.

The resentment may generate undead, phantoms, and ghosts.

They are extremely weak to Flow.

 

Stone weight: 0.500kg x 8

 

An undead Wyrm?

Undeads were rare, much rarer than phantoms and ghosts, or at least around these parts they were.

Personally, I had never seen one. People only whispered about them. And although the whispers of undead apparition multiplied during the Shade season, given the cold and thus, the higher number of deaths, nobody in the village had ever really seen one.

What was an undead wyrm doing here? Why was it born?

Well, I had no time to ask myself questions. I had to destroy still a few elementals and now the Wyrm as well.

However, I would not finish the elementals before the Wyrm.

If there was something about undeads, it was that they became very fragile to Flow.

I was ready to bet that I would bring it to the ground with less than five Crystal Blow arrows.

 

I wanted to end it fast, so I activated my weak point gauging sight.

My weak-gauging sight did not dress the creature in any of its peculiar colors, like yellow, orange, and red. The only yellowish portion it had was the belly, but when I conjured the arrow, the creature’s color took only one shade: a deep red.

I grinned to myself as I released my arrow.

It would be devastating.

And it was.

Only one of the double explosions shaved thirty percent of the creature's Durability.

Of course, undead did not have Health, only the resilience of their body to take into account.

Its stomach was literally torn open, and the creature was sent to the ground, whimpering.

It was almost pitiful.

I whistled for Loki to come and ravish it while I blew up its head.

The elementals were drawing too close. They would have to die.

At that moment, I even received a nice whisper, one I was waiting for.

Trick Shot II Major Perk will be promoted. Choose one of the following Perks to be added to it:

 

Double Trick:

Two Shade copies may follow in the wake of your shot instead of one.

 

Freezing Shot:

Your Trick Shot slows your target, applying a substantial Agility debuff and minimal ice damage. (Scales with Focus)

 

Shadow Shot:

Produce a Shade object in your hand to use for Trick Shot (it must be an object of adequate mass to be thrown or shot).

 

I didn't even have to think about it. Shadow Shot would be my next best friend.

However, Freezing Shot was interesting; it slightly dipped into Cryomancy. It was fascinating.

 

The already weakened body of the Wyrm gave out to Loki's claws in just a few seconds.

I could already feel the pressure of the whispers caressing my conscience. Loki or I had leveled up, hopefully, both.

But I waited to kill every single remaining Elemental. Indeed, I would be meeting others, so it was about time we got away from the place.

It would never really end at night, especially not during the Shade Season.

So we hurried back to the rock, it was just a few hundred meters. And if I was being followed, I would take care of them with Shadow Shatter arrows to refrain from making too much racket.

Their fragmentation explosion was definitely not as strong as a Blow Arrow, but it was really powerful.

You've earned 25689 Dark-ice Elementals' + 163,172 Undead Sand-Wyrm's Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next TechnoHunter level: 55,815/380,000

 

Class TechnoHunter has leveled up to 38.

You have gained 1 Attribute point. Where will you invest it?

 

Those were a lot of Soul fractions for a creature of that level, really a lot… I couldn't understand why, but I would not complain, not at all.

Of course, I put my just received point into Constitution, bringing it to fifteen.

 

You've earned 81586 Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next Red Tamer level: 106,937/340,000

 

Loki has earned 81586 Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next level: 16,286/280,000

 

Loki has leveled up to 28.

Agility + 5, Constitution +2, Strength +4, Focus + 1, Perception + 1, Willpower + 1

 

I Traced him to gauge the changes. And I had to admit that they were satisfying, very satisfying.

 

Loki (Adult Golden Netherlion), (Titan), Level 28 (16286/280,000)

Health: 98%

Stamina: 65%

 

Strength: Bite, Claws, Dash, Phantasmic State, Senses

Weaknesses: None

 

Abilities: Fading Dash, Ghastly Senses, Phase

 

Agility: 41

Constitution: 39

Strength: 41

Focus: 27

Perception: 31

Willpower: 27

 

I was almost willing to spend the rest of the night and maybe the entire week here to level up as much as I could.

Of course, there would be diminishing returns like with every monster; the more experienced one became at killing determined types of creatures, the less experience one got. Still, to get all those Soul fractions for such an easy target... It made my day.

Maybe there was something in play, something I could not understand.

But it was useless worrying about it. Also, I was starting to get sleepy.

I checked how long it would take for my other Skills to get their Promotion.

 

Skill points for Trick Shot Promotion:

 

-  Trick Shot II Minor Perk: 9225/10000

-  Trick Shot II Passive Perk.: 3658/5000

 

As it seemed, using my transfers' new abilities just a few times during the fights boosted Skill points gaining by a lot, and the Passive had considerably climbed as well. I thought that, maybe, if I stayed up the whole night, I would be able to promote them both. But I had spent a lot of Stamina and had gotten quite cold by using all that Shade.

Conjuring and then producing Trick Shots consumed a lot of Shade.

Still, I would not go to sleep right away. I wanted the enemies that had gathered to dissipate before retrieving some more Stones, those I had taken from the Imps were good, but they were too light. I would need more. And even just one of the undead Stones was worth several of the Imps' ones. They would serve me well.

It would indeed be a nasty job, though… I realized.

 

Maybe I would just get those from the Nightshades and the elementals; they would be enough.

 

---

 

Roughly an hour later, and an hour or so before dawn, I knocked on Aisha's Flow-cart.

 

“You were damn loud; you woke me up quite a few times,” Aisha said, her eyes sleepy. “Nova though, she slept like a nigh-howl.”

I smiled, closing my eyes and falling asleep right away.

Nobody would be stopping me from taking at least a couple of hours of rest.

 

---

 

Aisha woke me up at roughly eleventh bell in the morning; we had almost arrived at our destination.

"You gave it your all last night, didn't you?" She asked as she pointed at something they had put aside for me to eat.

"You heard the explosions?"

Aisha and Nova shared a look.

"What explosions?" Nova answered to Aisha’s chuckling.

"Then, I guess you didn't. This Flow-cart is really something… eh? It even stops nasty sounds from coming in."

“Or maybe Nova is just a dormouse,” Aisha said, chuckling.

“What’s a dormouse?” Nova asked. Aisha giggled again.

"Anyway, I didn't think you knew how to make an explosion? Are they grenades?"

"Something like that,” I answered, “anyway, Aisha. I found a really weird thing last night; I hoped you could answer some questions about it."

"Shoot."

I gobbled down the rice with tomato and pork; it was amazing. I had never tasted such good leftovers before in my life.

"By the way, this is incredible… you are not the one who made this, are you?" I asked her.

"What can I say… thank you for your appreciation of my cooking abilities… but you're right; I didn't make that. Our constable made it; she is fantastic; anyway, what did you want to ask?"

"Oh, right. I saw an undead yesterday, A Sand-Wyrm undead. How weird, uh?"

She was silent for a while.

"Weird doesn't cut it, Loke. Not when it is about undeads. Can you tell me more about it?"

"Well, it gave me a lot of experience, as if I had fought an Ultimate Class holder."

Aisha brusquely braked to a halt.

"Please, please tell me you were joking right now."

"That rice was very good… thank you,” I said, staring at the wonderful rice littering the Flow-cart insides, “but no. I was not joking."

Nova chuckled, looking at the rice that had splattered on my bosom.

However, Aisha was looking very serious; she massaged her temples.

"You don't know much about undeads, do you?"

"Nothing."

"Well, they are born from Shade Plagued lands. But that is not the only way in which they can be made…"

"Made? You can make undeads?"

"Sadly, yes. Through sentient's sacrifices and soul-consuming rituals."

"That… sounds nasty. Right?"

"Verily so."

Nova joined in, "And we are going to speak with people that were literally sacrificing Cyclopses for a giant Sand-Wyrm?"

Aisha and I both turned toward Nova simultaneously, then toward each other.

"This is not gonna be a pleasant trip," she said.

"I assumed as much… that rice though… it was very good..."